The Polo's ESP is a Quitter...

[jamesatfish]

Interesting issue with the ESP in the Polo at the track the other day, and I'm wondering if this is standard operation or just a glitch in the system.

Wakefield Park on Monday varied between overcast and torrential rain, and at times the circuit was covered in standing water at the most inopportune places, like over the kink at the end of the straight.

During one of my sessions I misjudged how much rain had fallen during the course of my lap, so I didn't back off soon enough down the straight and with already dodgy front tyres managed to aquaplane at about 165kph off the end of the straight, over the grass and bury the car in the kitty litter about a foot deep.

Whilst I normally drive at the track with ESP off, I was trying to be a bit sensible on that day and had it switched on at the time.

Obviously the ESP was useless in that situation anyway - it could brake any wheel it wanted but it wasn't going to stop the slide at those speeds in standing water - but I noticed after coming to a stop in the kitty litter that the ESP OFF light was showing - that is, the ESP had turned itself off. Whilst waiting for a tow out I tried fiddling with the ESP to turn it back on, but it had obviously packed a darkie and decided not to play anymore that day. During the later sessions that day and on the drive home I couldn't get the ESP to turn back on.

After a night sitting in the garage I started the car the next morning and the ESP was back in action.

As we came to a stop the force of the slide broke the seal on one of the tyres and replaced the air with a very large quantity of rocks, so perhaps this somehow confused the system?

I can't see that any sensors were damaged given that it's now back and working correctly again, so are there any other explanations as to the cause?

[noone]

Glad to see the rocket is still in action.

I've not had issues with the ESP, but for track its not much help (in the dry).

Seems odd that it had somehow turned off when it was unable to deal with your traction, surely if it didn't work well in one corner then you would still want it for the next corner?

Possibly something to do with the engine stalling after loosing traction?

Car looks dirty, hope nothing major to fix.

[seangti]

how exactly does our system work? Can it overheat or is all electronics? Was probably struggling with the grip levels but you'd likely replicate this on a skid pan, so yup, she's a quitter. I'm yet to do a wet track day in mine.

PS. James I've still got the emails from you from 12mnths ago about track set-up, nothing has progressed with my car since, but I'm getting closer.

[break]

If a slightly undulating road can unstick our ESP I can easily see how a puddle/bump/corner/sneeze could also cause problems with it

[Servo]

Hey James,

I was talking to Dean at Canberra VW and he mentioned to me that you were getting the FMIC installed. Was wondering what you're car looked like. Bad luck on the ESP, hope she's back on the road soon.

[jamesatfish]

The engine didn't stall - had the clutch and brake in hard from the second I hit the water - so the failure shouldn't have been caused by low/fluctuating voltage or other such electrical gremlins.

No damage other than the tyre which was just knocked off the rim, so probably could have been saved but was due for replacement anyway. Made the afternoon interesting though - had to whack on the R-Specs and drive the next session in the wet with no ESP...

[jamesatfish]

Hey James,

I was talking to Dean at Canberra VW and he mentioned to me that you were getting the FMIC installed. Was wondering what you're car looked like. Bad luck on the ESP, hope she's back on the road soon.

Yup - had the FMIC & K04 installed last week and was hoping to get out there in the dry and beat my previous best time of 1:12.7, but alas the weather conspired against me and I didn't get a dry run to see how the car is running with the changes.

Haven't taken any pics of the car yet - might have to do so over the weekend - but it really doesn't look much different. One small blue hose visible in the engine bay and of course the IC grill in the centre rather than the passenger's side.

If you want to take a look for yourself some time just drop me a note and we can organise something.

[bfeboi]

I might be wrong but isnt the esp there to prevent wheelspin by limiting the power to the wheels.

I think your trying to talk about ABS. That would be the system that tries and stop the lock up and bring traction back to the wheels

[jamesatfish]

I might be wrong but isnt the esp there to prevent wheelspin by limiting the power to the wheels.

I think your trying to talk about ABS. That would be the system that tries and stop the lock up and bring traction back to the wheels

ESP in the Polo works by braking individual wheels when the car isn't travelling in the direction indicated by the steering wheel. For instance, if you're in the wet and you lift off around a corner such that the back end steps out, ESP will brake an individual wheel to pull the back into line again.

In some 4WD / AWD cars ESP will also selectively apply power to individual wheels to help recover from similar situations - but obviously in a manual Polo it can only brake wheels, not power them.

ESP does also include Traction Control - which in the Polo brakes the front wheels to reduce wheel spin under power. This is why chipped / modified Polos will go through front brake discs and pads much quicker than you'd expect - the constant fight between engine and traction control induced braking.

[h100vw]

I reckon you need to be taking VAG-COM to the track, in case that happens again. At least you can check the codes and probably delete them.

It maybe switched off as it was confused, sometimes a couple of power cycles with not repeat of the fault conditions will reset the light. The code should still be there though.

Gavin